The great adventures of a w-space dweller and his alts in Eve Online.Current project: Figuring out what's new after being away for half a year.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Back! (what's new for the solo w-explorer)

I'm back after half a year away from Eve. While I was away, Rubicon hit the Eve universe, which means I have a lot of interesting new stuff to learn, a lot of it is highly interesting for an old wormhole rat like myself.

So, what are your plans, you old w-space eremite? I hear you ask. Well, there's so much new stuff (new for me at least) and I want to explore as much of it as possible in a w-space setting. After thinking a bit about leaving w-space and doing something totally different (RnK recruiting?), I decided to meddle a bit more in the unknown.

What new stuff is there that could potentially be interesting for wormholes then? Here's my short and very personal list;

The SOE ships (at least the Astro and Stratos) - looks interesting for solo cloaky hunting of all kind of industrial and PI ships. Just how many times have you not missed that pesky PI-hauler at a POCO just because your cruiser did not warp quick enough?

The Mobile Depot - could potentially be a small revolution, in w-space it's set to be a game changer, I'm sure. Definitely for the ones that want to optimize the versatility of ships, and not just the performance.

Marauders/Bastion - is this the time to dust of that old Golem? And I have always wanted to give the Vargur a serious chance for PVE in C4s, will they dethrone the Rattlesnake?

Ishtar! - I have always loved that ship, now it looks like it's going through a revival. If you combine it with the mobile depot it just have to be EVEs most versatile ship.

Eos - long forgotten, but with the changes to command-ships and boosting, is this the time of the newborn Gallente fleet command-ship?

My last adventure focused on me bearing it up in a C4 using a set of Rattlesnakes, minding my own system with three accounts. Trying out different fits for the Rattlers was fun. Developing and refining ways to be safe was interesting. Doing it all solo was also fun. All the tedious stuff with rolling WHs, setting up POSes, and hauling a lot of different ships in and out - not so much.

Could there be a way of downsizing what I did in Alpha (my first C4 solo) while testing all the new candy out? Could you even live in a system without a permanent POS? Why one would like to do that is beside the point. By now you should know that I'm clearly deranged and decide on my own goals and projects with little room for rationality in the equations.

Could you? Base out of a system without putting down a flag of "ownership" in the form of a POS? Do both diving and plexing from that system, maybe even if it was occupied? As a spice. How much fun and ISK could you get out of a system that you did not claim to be yours?

Consider;

With the Mobile Depot, all ships could be designed with multiple use in mind. With light living in hostile territory, versatility is the name of the game.

My biggest problem with the Orca have always been to unlock this versatility. Short of bringing another Orca to refit on, changing from one role to another have involved putting up a SMA, and for that you need a POS. Did I say game-changer?

Two Rattlers might be efficient ISK-making in shallow w-space, but it is a bit cumbersome to setup. And fly. Could you solo sites with just one ship, it would be great. Enter the bastion Marauder.

If frigs can effectively hunt and kill light targets like scouts, miners and PI-folks (Astero) and interceptors now make for great travelling through bubbled and highly hostile territory - that packs a lot of functionality in very little meters cube. For anyone whose primary concern might be "can it fit into my Orca?" this might be a big deal.